Martin Heidegger, a famous German philosopher of the 20th century, uses a fable from the Greek mythology that depicts time to be the ultimate judge of human existence. It goes as follows:
“One day Concern was walking along the side of a river and saw some clay. As it could not resist itself, Concern picked it up and started to give it a form by molding it into two arms, two legs, a body and a face. While admiring its own creation, Concern wondered what to call this creature.
“Just then Jupiter descended from his abode and offered to put spirit into it. Now, the creature conceived by Concern, made from the Earth’s body and given spirit by Jupiter, started moving. It could sense, feel, perceive, imagine, think and experience.
“Just as both Jupiter and Concern started wondering what name should be most appropriate for this creature, the Earth appeared to claim its share of the creation. Since the Earth had given a part of its body toward this artwork, it wanted to put its name on this creature.
“While the three of them argued, Saturn came down to their rescue. While addressing them politely, he said: ‘This is a beautiful creature, conceived, built and brought to life by all three of you. You need not fight because your contributions will be recognized in due course. When this creature meets its final end, the spirit will go back to Jupiter; its body will merge back into the dust of the Earth; and as long as this creature lives, it will be a being of Concern. However, since its material substance is contributed by the Earth, it will be called “human” being made from the “humus” of the Earth.’”
The significance of this myth is that though the earth, Jupiter and Concern constituted the human being, it is Saturn, representing time, that passed the final judgment on the meaning of its existence.
Heidegger took this myth seriously and constructed the core of his philosophy around the theme of time. He reflects on the nature of temporality in terms of facticity, existentiality and fallenness. A person’s body constitutes one’s facticity. Through the injection of its language and values, one’s family and society comprise one’s fallenness. However, a human being through existentiality can free himself from factuality and fallenness. Thus, one can decide to live a life as one chooses.
Here, Heidegger’s existentiality is similar to the first stanza of Yoga Sutra which says “here now begins the study of yoga.” It refers to the decision one takes to give one’s life meaning by living every moment fully. In the words of a popular writer of today, let us stop indulging in what lies behind or ahead and start being concerned about what lies within. Yoga’s quest is to experience the treasure of ourself that lies within. It begins with this moment of time. Once an individual decides to experience what lies within, yoga offers a set of physical, breathing and meditation exercises to accomplish this inner peace, called Santosha.
The exercise listed below is a suggestion only. When done properly, it might be helpful.
Meditation with a mantra
While sitting in the easy posture, close your eyes. Become aware of breathing in and out. As you breathe in, think about the sound “so.” As you breathe out, think about the sound “hum.” If other ideas come through your mind, recognize them and then set them aside. Go back to breathing in “so” and breathing out “hum.” Keep your mind on “so” “hum.” Continue your meditation for two minutes. After you have completed this process, go back to your normal breathing. This exercise can be done while you have been sitting in front of your computer for an hour. Take a break from work by breathing in “so” and breathing out “hum” for a minute. Resume your work routine. It is a good way to relax your eyes, hands and brain. You can do this exercise also during a plane, bus or train ride, or before falling asleep or before getting out of bed in the morning.
Dr. Ashok Kumar Malhotra has been a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. He is an emeritus SUNY Distinguished professor of philosophy and founder of the Yoga and Meditation Society of SUNY Oneonta. His videos are available on YouTube under “Ashok K Malhotra Yoga Institute Interviews.” His articles are condensed from his books available on www.amazon.com. He is the founder of the Ninash Foundation (www.ninash.org), a charity that builds schools for the female and minority children of India.